TransCanada to raise dividend, add C$13 bln of new projects

CALGARY, Alberta Nov 17 (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp
said it expects to raise its dividend and bring C$13
billion ($9.76 billion) of new small and medium-sized projects
into service by the end of 2018, following the rejection of its
Keystone XL crude pipeline.

Canada's second largest pipeline company said on Tuesday at
an investor day in Toronto that it anticipates increasing its
common share dividend at an average annual rate of 8 to 10
percent through 2020.

The company outlined plans to bring new projects into
service, pending regulatory approval, including C$6 billion of
U.S. and Canadian gas pipeline expansions, C$2 billion of
Mexican gas pipelines, C$3 billion of regional liquids pipelines
and C$2 billion of power generation facilities.

It also plans to extend the reach of its existing 545,000
barrel per day Keystone pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast to
access refineries in the Houston, Texas City and Lake Charles
areas.

TransCanada said capital spending is expected to be C$7.3
billion in 2016, and C$14 billion over the next three years.

The company is keen to highlight projects other than
Keystone XL after U.S. President Barack Obama finally rejected
the controversial cross-border pipeline earlier this month, more
than seven years after it was first proposed.

"Keystone has attracted a lot of headlines over the last
five years: the last couple of weeks, a couple of thousand news
stories. Despite that there (are) a lot of other things going on
with the company," Chief Executive Russ Girling said.

Obama said Keystone XL, intended to ship 830,000 barrels per
day of mainly oil sands crude to Nebraska en route to the Gulf
Coast, would not make a meaningful contribution to the U.S.
economy. Environmentalists claimed a historic victory.

Even so, TransCanada vowed to keep pressing to build the
pipeline and said on Tuesday it was reviewing its options.

The company is also developing its 1.1 million bpd Energy
East project to Canada's Atlantic Coast although it scrapped
plans this month to build a second marine export terminal for
the pipeline.
($1 = 1.3317 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Mike De Souza and Nia Williams in Calgary,
Alberta; Editing by Richard Chang)